Microsoft ‘homophobia’ tribunal ends in settlement

A gay games developer who sued Microsoft over alleged homophobic abuse has reached a settlement with the company.

Jamie Durrant, 38, orginally sued the corporation for £45,000 for ‘hurt feelings’ and lost pay.

According to the designer, who worked on the firm’s Xbox games at the Lionhead Studios in Guildford, he was called “fag boy Jim” by colleagues, who sent mocking emails making fun of his sexuality.

He alleged that the company’s human resources department “blatantly disregarded” his complaints.

The two parties reached a settlement agreement at an employment tribunal held this week in south London.

A confidentiality clause means the terms of the settlement cannot be disclosed.

A Microsoft spokesman said: “We are pleased to have reached an amicable resolution to this matter with Mr. Durrant. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but we can confirm that Mr. Durrant will not continue his employment at Lionhead as part of the agreement.

“Microsoft has a longstanding commitment to diversity. We attract, recruit and respect diverse talent and we have included sexual orientation in our anti-discrimination policies for 20 years.

“Our efforts have been recognised by a wide range of groups, including the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in its 2009 Corporate Equality Index. We do not tolerate breaches of our code of business conduct and take any complaints extremely seriously.

“Throughout this process, those to whom Mr. Durrant brought his concerns have taken them seriously and concrete actions have been taken to address them.

“Neither Mr. Durrant’s sexual orientation nor the nature of his complaint had any bearing on the way it was handled.”